Someone Had Loved Him
by Mercury
Summary: Okay, this is probably one of the strangest 'fics I've ever written in my life. It's got Kenlei at the end, and a teensy-weensy, itty-bitty, one-line of Takari. ^^; It's weird. Be warned.


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Author's Notes-  
Okay, so I'm sitting down and getting ready to type. Here we go! (Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh-oh....nevermind.)  
  
Disclaimer-  
Digimon is not mine. Hikari and Takeru and Miyako and Ken are not mine. None of these characters are mine...except the dog!  
  
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"Someone Had Loved Him"  
by Mercury  
  
  
  
  
Much as it felt like it, it really hadn't been that long.  
  
Oh, sure, a couple of years. Wow. So I was sixteen now. So what?  
  
But it had felt like so much longer than it had been. When I moved, a year ago, to the other side of the country, halfway across Japan...  
  
And then the blackout hit. The blackout that was still there. 'The World's Longest Blackout', they were calling it.  
  
People died because of it. I'd just gone nearly insane.  
  
My D-Terminal, my computer, every link I had to the Digital World had been cut for the past year and a half. None of us had been in contact with each other, none of us could get to the Digital World.  
  
And yet, I was going back to where I should have stayed, two years ago. I was so close, getting off of the airplane that had carried me cross-country...though how airplanes still flew without electricity was beyond my comprehension.  
  
The very second I stepped off the plane I saw someone who looked remotely familiar. I examined her short, straight, brown hair and the way she stood as she clicked away, taking pictures of the airplane and the aurroundings.  
  
"This will be great for my report!" she said to the person standing beside her. He chuckled, took off his hat, and scratched his head.   
  
"That girl over there is staring at us," he said.  
  
I was already walking over to them. Both of them just stood and stared at me, until finally the girl spoke.  
  
"I would know that purple hair anywhere....Miyako?"  
  
My face burst into a smile. "Hikari! I thought it was you! And...Takeru?"  
  
"Right you are," he grinned. "It's been a long time!"  
  
I nodded. "Too long."  
  
"A lot has changed in the past two years," Hikari pointed out. "Too much, too long."  
  
"We haven't been able to get to the Digital World for all this time duiring the blackout," Takeru added. "So, most of it...came...here. I guess you could say. Well, the Digimon didn't and the landscape and all didn't but--"  
  
"--Takeru's only trying to say that somewhere in Japan has lurked one Ichijouji Ken for the past two years and no one knows where."  
  
I tilted my head to one side. "That's odd."  
  
And soon, we were walking away, talking and remembering and updating each other in our lives.  
  
It seemed Taichi, being eighteen years old now, had recently moved out of the house with Hikari and their parents and now lived in an apartment near Yamato, who was seventeen, and Jyou, who was twenty.  
  
Hikari and Takeru, both fifteen, had been left happily brother-less for a while, and were now an 'item'. Daisuke, also now fifteen, had long gotten over his little crush, and was now one of the major members of his soccer team.  
  
Iori, now twelve, hadn't changed much. He still lived with his mother and grandfather, but I was informed that he had been worried about me to the extent of chronic outbursts into tears.  
  
Mimi, eighteen now and still in America, had not been heard from since the blackout. Which, I was told, upset Jyou to no end.  
  
Koushirou, eighteen as well, was living in the same apartment and now very successful in computers...even though there was no electricity to run them.   
  
  
"Koushirou buys a lot of batteries," Hikari had laughed.  
  
And Sora hadn't changed much either, except her age of now-seventeen. She, however, had moved out of town but not nearly as far away as I had.  
  
After I was caught up on everyone's lives, Takeru bid farewell for the evening and so, soon, did Hikari.  
  
And I was left to find someplace to stay. So, I set off to look for somewhere I remembered, recognized, anything.   
  
I passed the hospital, now a foreboding place of death and pain. The blackout for so long had caused many to die or to develop serious problems, since without electricity the hospital could be used for nothing more than sheltering the injured and dying.  
  
As I walked by it, I saw a young man of about my age talking to someone who looked oddly like Daisuke. When I stopped to look, the Daisuke-look-alike smiled, almost sadly, while the other young man seemed not to notice me. He simply brushed back a piece of wild, dark hair and continued talking.  
  
So I continued walking and found myself at a nice, little building that was being used for travelers, the homeless, and those that the hospital did not have room for anymore. I was offered a free room and free meals (though nothing could be heated or cooled without electricity), so I decided to stay.  
  
It wasn't until late that night that I saw the two from the hospital again. And it wasn't until one of them began fingering a pair of goggles that looked too small for him that I realized it must have been Daisuke I had seen.  
  
I tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, releasing his grip on the other one's sleeve and sending him toppling over.  
  
"Oops! Gomen! Are you okay?"  
  
The dark-haired one nodded and made himself confortable on the floor where he had fallen. I noticed he was clinging for dear life to the leash of a well-trained dog.  
  
"So, did you want something?"  
  
I was jolted out of my thoughts immediately. "You look a lot like someone I used to know."  
  
"Maybe that's 'cause of my awesome, famous, soccer-playing skills!"  
  
The dark-haired one snorted.  
  
"I'd know that ego anywhere, Daisuke," I smiled. Then I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.  
  
"Miyako! Oh, I thought it was you!" he laughed. "We've all missed you so much; I can't believe you came back!"  
  
I released him from my hug. "I've missed all of you, too. Hikari and Takeru told me about not being able to get to the Digital World, and how everyone has changed and all..."  
  
Again the young man sitting on the floor snorted, this time, frowning as well.  
  
"Yeah," Daisuke said, ignoring the other, "I found some leftover Digi-debris floating around at the hospital." He made an awful face at me. "And I thought my competition was gone!"  
  
The other one now spoke. "I told you, I've given up soccer. Mr. I'm-So-Good-Now."  
  
And I instantly recognized the voice. I kneeled on the ground and stared into his face before whispering hoarsely, "....Ken?"  
  
"One and the same, Miyako. Though I would appriciate you telling your friend"--and he made quote-unquote signs with his fingers--"to kindly leave me alone now. I thank him for his help in finding my way here but I don't need any more of it."  
  
I found myself subconsciously petting his dog on its forehead. "Beautiful dog," I said.   
  
"Oh, really? That's what I'm told," he snapped back. His knuckles were white around the leash as he stood up again. He began to walk away and the dog quickly dashed in front of him.  
  
"Wait! Ken!" I called after him.  
  
"I have no buisness in talking to him," he said over his shoulder.   
  
"I think he means me. Well, I'll leave then," Daisuke said with a strange tone to his voice.  
  
Ken paused, silent until Daisuke had slammed the door closed in irritation.   
  
"Better," he said, his voice more gentle. "I don't mind talking to you." He continued on his way to his room.  
  
I noticed him counting the doors, touching each one and mouthing its number, until he reached his. And I had my suspicions. All signs pointed to yes on my hypothesis.  
  
He unlocked the door to his room and I made a mental note that mine was right across from it. He, with the help of the dog, sat down in the middle of the bed.  
  
"Have a seat," he ordered.   
  
I plopped down in front of him on the bed and stared into his eyes. They used to be deep violet, but now they looked more clear than before.  
  
"Ohh...Ken...you're blind, aren't you?"  
  
He sighed, a horribly depressing sigh, and scratched his dog behind her ears. "Hai," he whispered. "I'm blind. I have been for almost two years."  
  
I touched his hand, which now looked thin and bony.   
  
"You've not been eating much. I can tell; you're too thin," I said.  
  
He only stared blankly at my face--though those unseeing eyes made it feel more like he was staring through me. Then he snapped his fingers, and the rather large dog leaped happily into his lap and licked his face.  
  
"Stop it, Lilli!" he laughed. Wait--he laughed? I was astonished, but almost glad he couldn't see the look on my face as I heard him laugh for the first time.  
  
"So," I said, pushing Lilli's rear end away from my face while she continued to lick Ken, "her name is Lilli? It's cute; it fits her well!"  
  
She was almost pure white, with a coat like a golden retriever and the build of a German shepherd. Her two front paws were splotched with tannish-brown, and her big, sad eyes were almost the same shade as her master's used to be.  
  
"I'm sure it does," Ken muttered sadly. He fell silent again, and Lilli stretched out along the bed, her head contentedly in his lap.  
  
"You don't seem like a dog person," I ventured.  
  
"What was I supposed to get, a seeing-eye worm?" he shot back. Then he paused and said, "Gomen, I shouldn't act like that to you. You're being kind to me, and without all the awkwardness I can tell Daiuske feels around me. You aren't afraid of me...I would almost like to think that you want to be friends with me."  
  
I smiled. "I say leave the past in the past and let's think about today. I'd love to be your friend now, Ken."  
  
He smiled, as well, a smaller smile than mine but still a sweet one. "And friends...listen to each other, right?"  
  
"Do you want to tell me something? Because you can tell me anything. Trust me. I won't tell another soul, if that's what you're worried about."  
  
He fidgeted nervously for a second, then came right out with it. "I've always wanted someone to talk to," he blurted, "and now that I'm blind it's even worse. See...I've always felt so lonely. And so different from everyone else."  
  
He stopped. I was simply watching him breathing heavily as he tried not to cry. I waited for him to continue.   
  
"When I couldn't stay in the Digital World because of the blackout, I felt totally lost without even Wormmon to talk to. And I never even got to apologize to him."   
  
He bit his lip so hard it nearly bled before he gave up and allowed his tears to come.  
  
"I won't tell anyone you cried, either," I promised. "If you don't mind if I hug you."  
  
He shook his head, so I wrapped my arms around him gently and slowly, so as not to startle him. I knew he wasn't very used to any emotions except his own anger and loneliness, therefore I had to be careful with him.  
  
He seemed nervous at first, but soon he was crying freely on my shoulder as though we were lifelong friends. And he was hugging me back, as well; something I didn't think was possible from him.  
  
Lilli watched us, beating her tail against the bed happily. She was now sitting protectively beside Ken. When he finally pulled out of my hug, she laid back down beside him.  
  
"That is the most loving dog I think I've ever seen," I told him.  
  
"It's nice to know someone loves you," he replied.  
  
I tucked a stray piece of his dark hair behind his ear. "Someone will always love you," I whispered.   
  
He smiled a sad, depressed smile at me as he allowed Lilli to lick his thin hand.  
_-_-_-  
It wasn't more than a year later, back at my home so far from everyone, that the blackout had ended and I was watching a news channel from my previous hometown on my computer.  
  
It seemed there had been a fire...there had been many survivors but one young man and his dog were found dead...  
  
...Identified as Ichijouji Ken...  
  
I hoped he was finally at peace.   
  
I hoped he remembered that day when he let me comfort him.  
  
Mostly, I hoped he knew that someone had loved him.  
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Mercury's Notes:  
The end! Was not that disturbing? I just kinda sat down and typed that up for no apparent whatsoever. And no, Lilli was not modeled after any dog I have ever had. I just thought a nearly-perfectly white dog kinda suited Ken, in a symbolic sort of way. Okay, so I'm strange. I had to do something to pass the time 'till I get another contest entry! (And 'till I see who wins the presidential election!) Oh my good cow alive!! *goes into Tennessee accent* Lookit, ya'll! It's my longest fanfic ever that I've posted to FFN!   
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